Pennsylvania Apprenticeship Programs
As of September 2026, Pennsylvania operates one of the larger registered-apprenticeship systems in the country: 48,000 active apprentices in 1,750 programs, with completion pay near $30.20/hour.
- Active apprentices
- 48,000
- National rank
- #4 / 51
- Completion rate
- 59.8%
- Completion wage
- $30
Pennsylvania ranks #4 - among the largest of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 5.7% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 59.8% completion rate sits 1.6 pts above the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 83% - from $17 to $30 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction PE · Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania registered-apprenticeship filing: 48,000 active apprentices (rank 4/51), 1,750 programs, 59.8% completion.
- BOOK-LARGE 48,000
- RANK-UPPER #4
- PROG-MID 1,750
- COMP-MID 59.8%
- WAGE-STRONG +83%
- SHARE-MID 5.7%
- NEW-FY 12,000
Nearest enrollment peer: Ohio (4,000 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: apprenticeships vs college
Where Pennsylvania sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; Pennsylvania sits in the top tercile. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
Pennsylvania vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
48,000 4th of 51 higher than 47 of 51 states
States and territories, banded by active apprentices
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data · 2026-09-25
Source: U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data, compiled by PlainWorkforce.
Reading Pennsylvania's numbers
What stands out in this state's DOL filing, most distinctive first. Every figure below is computed from the state's own row in the dataset.
The signature stat: intake
What separates Pennsylvania is a slow front door: new registrations equal just 25% of the active base, a slower pipeline than 96% of states.
A top-5 system by enrollment
48,000 active apprentices put Pennsylvania at rank 4 of 51; its 5.7% slice of national enrollment means this one system reaches a meaningful share of every registered apprentice in the country.
Fewer, larger programs
The state's 1,750 registered programs average 27.4 apprentices each, above the 23.6 national norm — enrollment concentrates in larger sponsors rather than spreading across many small ones.
Completion near the average
A 59.8% completion rate holds within two points of the national average (58.2%).
Typical wage progression
Pay runs $16.50/hour at the start and $30.20 at completion — a 83% progression near the 82.7% norm.
Pennsylvania's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations, ranked by AI-exposure score, most sit well below the 37% occupation-wide average (the dotted line), which is exactly why the trades are AI-resilient. Bars link to the full occupation profile where tracked.
- Electrician 13%
- Plumber 27%
- Carpenter 28%
- Iron Worker -
- Pipefitter -
AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis of O*NET task data; the 37% line is the average across all 832 tracked occupations. Lower = more AI-resilient.
Frequently asked questions
How many apprentices does Pennsylvania have?
48,000 active registered apprentices — rank 4 of 51 jurisdictions — spread over about 1,750 registered programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in Pennsylvania?
Roughly 59.8%, effectively at the national average of 58.2%.
How much do apprentices earn in Pennsylvania?
Entry wages average $16.50/hour, rising to about $30.20 at completion (83% growth).
What are the top apprenticeship trades in Pennsylvania?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for Pennsylvania are Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter, Iron Worker, Pipefitter — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
Why is Pennsylvania's apprentice pipeline slow?
The data shows the symptom, not the cause: 12,000 new registrations against 48,000 active apprentices is a 25% intake ratio, bottom-tercile nationally. The dataset does not record why sponsors register fewer new apprentices here.
Where this leaves you
Use Pennsylvania's apprenticeship numbers above to plan a specific trade path, not just compare states.
- Real wage and growth numbers weigh an apprenticeship path against a college degree. Apprenticeships vs college
- Check wage and AI exposure for a specific trade in the full occupation directory. Browse all occupations
- See which occupations are projected to add the most jobs through 2034. Fastest-growing occupations
Enrollment and completion vary by program and year; these figures come from the U.S. Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship data.
Every figure on PlainWorkforce is rendered directly from BLS/O*NET source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Enrollment and wage figures are rounded. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these figures, or report a data error. Data current as of U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship (active apprentices, registered programs, completion rates, and wages by state), O*NET (occupation task data, for the linked AI-exposure scores).